The Corazón—March 4th, 1890—18:45
Feliciana Vargas
"Ve, Mister Toris, where do you come from?" Feliciana asked as she stirred a pot of vegetable soup.
"Who, me?" the man said, pointing to himself.
"Of course! Nobody else is down here!" the girl said, flashing a bright smile. Toris blushed and put down his knife, wiping his hands on the apron he wore.
"Well, I come from Lithuan—"
"I know that! Tell me about your city! Are there lots of cute boys? How'd you end up on this smelly ship? Was your city really bad or something?"
"Oh! I come from the capital city, Vilnius! It's a nice place, and the people are all very kind. We have lots of history, and our culture is very interesting, too. I can tell you lots of stories, like the one about the wolf and—"
Toris continued to babble, but after a while, Feliciana tuned him out, deciding that since he made no mention of the attractiveness of his people, nor did he talk about food, she wasn't particularly interested.
"I'm going to let the soup simmer for a little bit, okay? I think I'll go see what everybody else is up to. Ve~ Maybe sorella is free to play!" Feliciana said. Toris, who had finished rambling about his home by that point, nodded and went back to chopping up pieces of meat.
Feliciana removed her apron, hanging it on a nearby peg, which Viktor swore upside-down and backwards was the leg of a pirate captain they'd vanquished in the first few months of Antonio's captaincy, and skipped out of the galley and up the stairs.
She poked her head inside the door of the room she shared with Romana, but found it empty. The Italian girl shrugged.
"I guess she's still with Captain Toni. I'm glad that they're getting along now!" she said. She continued to skip merrily down the halls, humming as she went. Finally, she came to the bridge, just in time for Ludwig to open the door and step out. Feliciana slammed into him with a yelp before falling to the ground.
"Oh! Ludwig! I'm so sorry! Are you okay? Did I hurt you? Please forgive me!" she cried, working herself up into a flurry of emotions. Ludwig looked at her with what she had learned was his expression of surprise.
"I'm fine, Feliciana, but I'm wondering if you are," the German man replied, offering the young woman a hand. She took it daintily and he pulled her up.
"What have you been up to today, Ludwig?" Feliciana asked, looking at him with large amber eyes.
"Hmph. Not much. I've been helping Abel since he is still recovering. We're waiting for orders from Captain Carriedo about taking on some of Bonnefoy's crew, but otherwise, we're just coasting for now. I was on my way to my quarters to prepare for dinner," Ludwig said, regaining his stoic composure.
"You look perfectly fine to me! What do you have to do to prepare for dinner?" Feliciana chirped, taking hold of one of Ludwig's arms. He turned red, but said nothing.
"Well, I, uh, I just like to have some time to myself before eating," he stammered after a few seconds of pained silence, making Feliciana giggle.
"Can I join you?" she said pleadingly. Ludwig blushed even darker as the girl tightened her grip on his arm.
"How about, instead, we just go to the observation room, ja? The sun should be setting soon, and I'm sure it's a lovely view," Ludwig said with an awkward smile.
Feliciana's face lit up, and she practically dragged Ludwig down the stairs to the lowest level of the ship.
The entire room was a giant window, offering a complete panoramic view of the German countryside. Feliciana found herself spending the better part of her days curled up in the middle of the room with a blanket and some pillows, watching the landscape fly by, and letting her imagination go wherever it wished.
She danced around, laughing and smiling while Ludwig simply stood in the doorway and watched, looking awkward and out of place, as though he had no idea what to do with the young Italian woman.
"Ve~ It's so beautiful, Ludwig! Don't you just love it in here?" Feliciana said. Ludwig nodded, and gave a grunt of affirmation. She stopped twirling and ran over to one of the walls, occasionally pressing her face to the glass when she wasn't moving about the room. She sang in Italian for a few minutes, and every time she turned to face her companion, she was smiling widely.
Suddenly, she stopped singing and froze. Ludwig walked over, stopping a few feet behind her, curious as to why she had stopped her song.
"Was ist es?" he said, more to himself than to the girl, trying to figure out what she was looking at.
"There are soldiers down there! Big, scary ones!"
Ludwig looked at her in exasperation.
"They're probably just German troops doing some exercises. It's really not a big deal," he said, waving her off. Suddenly, Feliciana turned, closed the gap between them, and buried her face in his chest, her arms automatically going around his midsection like a vice. Ludwig stiffened, alarmed at her sudden hug, and completely unsure of what to do.
"No, no, no! I don't think those are Germans! I've seen German troops before, and those men down there are not German! Plus, why would they be setting fire to their own homeland?" she cried into his shirt.
"What?" he yelled. Feliciana extricated herself from him, and pointed to the soldiers, which Ludwig could now clearly see. She was right: those men were most definitely not German.
"Scheiße," he swore under his breath.
"Ludwig, they're scary," Feliciana cried, shivering and returning to his arms. Ludwig stood there, stunned, and unconsciously returned Feliciana's hug.
"Ja," he whispered, "they're terrible."
19:20
Romana Vargas
Romana had to admit, spending the past two days shadowing the Spanish bastard really had been almost...fun. Once she had cleaned herself up and gotten strong Spanish coffee in her system, Antonio had shown her around the ship, teaching her how to check all of the various gauges that kept them afloat, and how to read both a digital map as well as traditional one, taught her how to steer the ship, and even let her sit in on his and Ludwig's conversation with the other two captains. After three months on this damned ship, she was finally being accepted as part of the crew.
She was loathe to say as much, but she really had enjoyed her time, despite the fact that she was surrounded by filthy pirates. Antonio reminded her of a child, obnoxious but sweet...though mainly obnoxious.
"Romana! Your face is all red again! What's got you blushing, mi pequeña tomate?" Antonio asked as they walked down towards the galley for dinner.
"I told you, bastardo, that if you called me that one more time, I would castrate you as slowly and painfully as possible. And I'm not blushing! This ship is just really warm!" Romana yelled, punching him on the arm.
"Ow! Roma! That hurt!" the Spaniard whined, rubbing his arm.
"You deserved it, idiot," she mumbled. They made their way into the bustling galley where Toris was setting out plates and bowls for everyone while Viktor and Heracles sat at the table and argued about the Greek economy and its overall effect on the broader European economy. Ludwig sat with a dull look on his face, and Feliciana chattered away about the beautiful sunset. Nearby, Abel puffed away on his pipe, waiting for the meal to be served.
"Kapitane! There you are! We were beginning to worry about you—ah! Miss Vargas! I didn't see you there!" Viktor called, waving the two of them over.
"Lo siento, Viktor! I was just showing Roma my maps! How is everybody?" Antonio said jovially, taking Romana's hand and tugging her over to the table.
"Can't complain. Any word from Beilschmidt and Bonnefoy?" Heracles said quietly.
Antonio's face immediately went stony.
"I was going to tell everyone this during dinner, but we're landing in Berlin the day after tomorrow. Francis' first mate is very badly injured, and needs medical attention inmediatamente, so they're sending a landing party ahead tomorrow, and the rest of us will follow the next day," he said to the now quiet room.
"You're kidding me, right? The German authorities will string us up before we can even step off of the ships," Abel growled.
"Sadly, my friends, no, I'm not kidding. Gilbert is sending his first mate, James, along with his navigator, Mathias. They won't be recognised by the authorities and will be able to get him into the hospital quickly and safely. We'll wait for their signal, and then find a place to stay. We attacked Kirkland's ship together, and we'll stand together until all of us are stable," Antonio said.
Even though Romana already knew about this, she felt a pit in her stomach over the idea. One glance over at Ludwig confirmed that he too felt some unease, having been there for the planning of the mission.
"I need one of you to join the delegation, to ensure that they have another layer of protection. James will contact us later tonight with the cover story, but someone needs to go with them," Antonio continued.
The group continued to sit in cold silence, pondering Antonio's words, and Romana fidgeted with her dress.
"I'll go, Captain," Viktor said solemnly.
"Gracias, amigo," Antonio said.
"Mister Antonio, are we going to eat soon? I'm hungry!" Feliciana interjected, earning a facepalm from her sister.
I love my sister, but she really is so oblivious sometimes. It's a wonder her head doesn't just float away, Romana thought to herself. Antonio took her hand and seated her next to him as Toris ladled soup into her bowl and dropped a piece of meat onto her plate.
"Just in time, Feliciana! Let's eat!" Antonio laughed, breaking the tension in the room. Dinner passed in silence as the ravenous crew thought about Antonio's news, and enjoyed the combined culinary talents of Toris and Feliciana. Afterwards, everybody drifted off towards their rooms, while Viktor, Romana, and Antonio adjourned to the captain's office to make contact with Gilbert.
After one very long hour of planning, they signed off, and Viktor went to the quarters he shared with Heracles, escorted by Romana after Antonio told him he 'needed a woman's help with packing.' There, he gathered a small bag with things he would need for his stay in Berlin, pausing only momentarily to look at a picture of a younger version of him standing arm-in-arm with a red-eyed youth with strawberry blond hair. At their feet sat a smaller boy with deep brown hair sticking out erratically, two small tufts of hair poking out the sides of his head.
The English Rose—23:30
Captain Arthur George Mackenzie-Kirkland
Arthur yawned, taking off his shirt as quietly as possible, trying his best not to disturb the American woman sleeping on the other side of his bed, curled up in a nightgown he had procured for her. His body was exhausted simply from being a captain, and he still hadn't had much chance to speak with Lukas about his attackers, but his mind was wide awake, planning for his next move in two days' time. He downed the sleeping draught he'd prepared earlier in the day, shut off the lights, wrapped his arms around Amelia, and quickly drifted off to sleep, his dreams haunted by a pair of green-grey eyes and a blue and silver cloak.